Regional Connector

Downtown Los Angeles is a booming regional transportation, commercial, cultural, and residential hub. As of 2015, Metro’s Red, Purple, Blue, Exposition, and Gold Lines serve the area, transporting people from as far as Long Beach, North Hollywood, Pasadena, and Culver City. Metro is currently working on a 1.9-mile extension, known as the Regional Connector, which when completed will provide continuous and direct service through Downtown. This extension will allow for a one-seat ride between the cities of Azusa and Long Beach, and between East Los Angeles and Santa Monica. The Downtown Regional Connector will add three new stations and is anticipated to open by 2020. For more information on Metro’s project, please visit http://www.metro.net/projects/connector/.

As part of its work program for Downtown, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning is updating the Downtown Community Plans, which will provide a policy framework for Downtown, including these seven transit station areas. Additionally, the Department is completing a comprehensive revision of the City’s zoning code and developing new zones for Downtown. These concurrent initiatives provide the Department an opportunity to write policy and create implementation tools tailored to each station area, while supporting transit ridership, pedestrian-orientation, and sustainable neighborhoods throughout Downtown. For more information on the Downtown Community Plan Update, please visit http://www.dtla2040.org/.

The City’s Transit Neighborhood Planning initiative will focus on seven stations in Downtown Los Angeles, of which four are existing and three are under construction:

2nd Street/Broadway (under construction)

2nd Street/Hope (under construction)

1st Street/Central (under construction)

Civic Center/Grand Park

Pershing Square

7th Street/Metro Center

Pico/Chick Hearn

As part of this initiative, the Department of City Planning will develop regulatory tools and strategies that encourage transit ridership, enhance the urban built environment, increase the housing supply, promote job creation, and preserve existing job-generating uses. The Department of City Planning also recognizes that every station neighborhood has a unique character and a distinct mix of uses that will be reflected in the Department’s approach to planning in each area.